1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the invention are directed to prioritization of group communication sessions at a wireless communications device within a wireless communications system.
2. Description of the Related Art
There exists a wireless telecommunication service that provides a quick one-to-one or one-to-many communication between groups of wireless communication devices, such as mobile telephones, that is generically referred to as “Push-To-Talk” (PTT) capability. The specific PTT group of recipient devices for the communicating wireless device is commonly set up by the carrier. A PTT communication connection is typically initiated by a single button-push on the wireless device that activates a half-duplex communication between the speaker and each member device of the group and once the button is released, the device can receive incoming PTT transmissions. In some arrangements, the PTT speaker will have the “floor” where no other group member can speak while the speaker is speaking. Once the speaker releases the PTT button, any other individual member of the group can engage their PTT button and they will have the floor. The PTT speaker with the floor will control the floor unless the speaker is dropped to allow another speaker, or the speaker relinquishes control of the floor.
In some instances, it may be necessary or desirable to force the speaker off the floor. This may be necessary to allow emergency messages to be received at the wireless communication device without regard to the current PTT speaker. For example, in a fire, the fire chief's instructions to the fire brigade may be determined to be the most important item to receive in the group. Therefore, in some extant PTT systems, when the fire chief attempts to send a PTT communication, the group communication server servicing the group may drop the communication of any other group speakers and connect the fire chief with the group.
Another example may be an application that needs to be received by the wireless communication device that takes priority of the data channel over any other application being transmitted over the data channel. For example, the application may be a security patch that needs to be received and installed on the wireless communication device at that moment. Thus, when the application is pushed to the wireless device, it may be necessary to drop any current data communication and allow the security patch communication to occur.
Currently, there are various methods in which a speaker may be forced to relinquish the floor or a communication priority forced as between competing applications. For example, on a communication server servicing the communication group, the server may be provided with “ruthless preemption” capabilities. When a communication is received at the group communication server, the server can determine priority of the communication and remove the speaker from the floor of one or more of the communication devices in a communication group that are “listening”, or receiving communications from, the speaker. However, this prioritization schema is difficult to change and requires modifications to the group communication server that is arbitrating the group session and enforcing the priority rules for each participating group member.